The style of Luke and the purpose of his gospel

I would add a remark as to the style of Luke, which may
facilitate the study of this Gospel to the reader. He often brings
a mass of facts into one short general statement, and then
expatiates at length on some isolated fact, where moral principles
and grace are displayed. Many had undertaken to give an account of
that which was historically received among Christians, as related
to them by the companions of Jesus; and Luke thought it well --
having followed these things from the beginning, and thus obtained
exact knowledge respecting them -- to write methodically to
Theophilus, in order that he might have the certainty of those
things in which he had been instructed. It is thus that God has
provided for the instruction of the whole church, in the doctrine
contained in the picture of the Lord's life furnished by this man
of God; who, personally moved by christian motives, was directed
and inspired by the Holy Ghost for the good of all believers.*

{*The union of motive and inspiration, which infidels have
endeavoured to set in opposition to each other, is found in every
page of the word. Moreover the two things are only incompatible to
the narrow mind of those who are unacquainted with the ways of
God. Cannot God impart motives, and through these motives engage a
man to undertake some task, and then direct him, perfectly and
absolutely, in all that he does? Even if it were a human thought
(which I do not at all believe), if God approved of it, could not
He watch over its execution so that the result should be entirely
according to His will?}

The first revelations of stupendous events: Zacharias and Elizabeth

At verse 5 the evangelist begins with the first revelations of
the Spirit of God respecting these events, on which the condition
of God's people and that of the world entirely depended; and in
which God was to glorify Himself to all eternity. But we
immediately find ourselves in the atmosphere of Jewish
circumstances. The Jewish ordinances of the Old Testament, and the
thoughts and expectations connected with them, are the framework in
which this great and solemn event is set. Herod, king of Judea,
furnishes the date; and it is a priest, righteous and blameless,
belonging to one of the twenty-four classes, whom we find on the
first step of our way. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron; and
these two upright persons walked in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord (Jehovah) without blame. All was right
before God, according to His law in the Jewish sense. But they did
not enjoy the blessing that every Jew desired; they had no child.
Nevertheless, it was according, we may say, to the ordinary ways of
God in the government of His people, to accomplish His blessing
while manifesting the weakness of the instrument -- a weakness that
took away all hope according to human principles. Such had been the
history of the Sarahs, the Rebeccas, the Hannahs, and many more, of
whom the word tells us for our instruction in the ways of God.

God's answer to prayer

This blessing was often prayed for by the pious priest; but
until now the answer had been delayed. Now, however, when, at the
moment of exercising his regular ministry, Zacharias drew near to
burn incense, which, according to the law, was to go up as a sweet
savour before God (type of the Lord's intercession), and while the
people were praying outside the holy place, the angel of the Lord
appears to the priest on the right side of the altar of incense. At
the sight of this glorious personage Zacharias is troubled, but the
angel encourages him by declaring himself to be the bearer of good
news; announcing to him that his prayers, so long apparently
addressed in vain to God, were granted. Elizabeth should bear a
son, and the name by which he should be called was, "The favour of
the Lord," a source of joy and gladness to Zacharias, and whose
birth should be the occasion of thanksgiving to many. But this was
not merely as the son of Zacharias. The child was the Lord's gift,
and should be great before Him; he should be a Nazarite, and filled
with the Holy Ghost, from his mother's womb: and many of the
children of Israel should he turn to the Lord their God. He should
go before Him in the spirit of Elias, and with the same power to
re-establish moral order in Israel, even in its sources, and to
bring back the disobedient to the wisdom of the just -- to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.

The spirit of Elias

The spirit of Elias was a stedfast and ardent zeal for the glory
of Jehovah, and for the establishment, or re-establishment by
repentance, of the relations between Israel and Jehovah. His heart
clung to this link between the people and their God, according to
the strength and glory of the link itself, but in the sense of
their fallen condition, and according to the rights of God in
connection with these relationships. The spirit of Elias --
although indeed the grace of God towards His people had sent him --
was in a certain sense a legal spirit. He asserted the rights of
Jehovah in judgment. It was grace opening the door to repentance,
but not the sovereign grace of salvation, though what prepared the
way to it. It is in the moral force of his call to repentance that
John is here compared to Elias, in bringing back Israel to
Jehovah. And in fact Jesus was Jehovah.

Zacharias' want of faith used of God; Elizabeth's piety

But the faith of Zacharias in God and in His goodness did not
come up to the height of his petition (alas! too common a case),
and when it is granted at a moment that required the intervention
of God to accomplish his desire, he is not able to walk in the
steps of an Abraham or a Hannah, and he asks how this thing can now
take place. God, in His goodness, turns His servant's want of
faith into an instructive chastisement for himself, and into a
proof for the people that Zacharias had been visited from on
high. He is dumb until the word of the Lord is fulfilled; and the
signs which he makes to the people, who marvel at his staying so
long in the sanctuary, explain to them the reason. But the word of
God is accomplished in blessing towards him; and Elizabeth,
recognising the good hand of God upon her with a tact that belongs
to her piety, goes into retirement. The grace which blessed her did
not make her insensible to that which was a shame in Israel, and
which, although removed, left its traces as to man in the
superhuman circumstances through which it was accomplished. There
was a rightmindedness in this, which became a holy woman. But that
which is rightly concealed from man has all its value before God,
and Elizabeth is visited in her retreat by the mother of the
Lord. But here the scene changes, to introduce the Lord Himself
into this marvellous history which unfolds before our eyes.

The Saviour's birth announced to Mary

God, who had prepared all beforehand, sends now to announce the
Saviour's birth to Mary. In the last place that man would have
chosen for the purpose of God -- a place whose name in the eyes of
the world, sufficed to condemn those who came from thence -- a
maiden, unknown to all whom the world recognised, was betrothed to
a poor carpenter. Her name was Mary. But everything was in
confusion in Israel: the carpenter was of the house of David. The
promises of God -- who never forgets them, and never overlooks
those who are their object -- found here the sphere for their
accomplishment. Here the power and the affections of God are
directed, according to their divine energy. Whether Nazareth was
small or great was of no importance, except to show that God does
not expect from man, but man from God. Gabriel is sent to Nazareth,
to a virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house
of David. The gift of John to Zacharias was an answer to his
prayers -- God faithful in His goodness towards His people who wait
upon Him.

Sovereign grace displayed

But this is a visitation of sovereign grace. Mary, a chosen
vessel for this purpose, had found grace in God's sight. She was
favoured* by sovereign grace -- blessed among women. She should
conceive and bring forth a son: she should call Him Jesus. He
should be great, and should be called the Son of the Highest. God
should give Him the throne of His father David. He should reign
over the house of Jacob for ever, and His kingdom should have no
end.

{*The expressions, "found favour" and "highly favoured" have
not at all the same meaning. Personally she had found favour, so
that she was not to fear: but God had sovereignly bestowed on her
this grace, this immense favour, of being the mother of the
Lord. In this she was the object of God's sovereign favour.}

The birth of the Child presented by the Holy Spirit in a twofold way

It will be observed here, that the subject which the Holy Ghost
sets before us is the birth of the child, as He would be down here
in this world, as brought forth by Mary -- of Him who should be
born. The instruction given by the Holy Ghost on this point is
divided into two parts: first, that which the child to be born
should be; secondly, the manner of His conception, and the glory
which would be its result. It is not simply the divine nature of
Jesus that is presented, the Word which was God, the Word made
flesh; but that which was born of Mary, and the way in which it
should take place. We know well that it is the same precious and
divine Saviour of whom John speaks that is in question; but He is
here presented to us under another aspect, which is of infinite
interest to us; and we must consider Him as the Holy Ghost presents
Him, as born of the virgin Mary in this world of tears.

The Lord Jesus as really and truly Man

To take first the verses 31-33. It was a child really conceived
in Mary's womb, who brought forth this child at the time which God
had Himself appointed for human nature. The usual time elapsed
before its birth. As yet this tells us nothing of the manner. It is
the fact itself, which has an importance that can neither be
measured nor exaggerated. He was really and truly man, born of a
woman as we are -- not as to the source nor as to the manner of His
conception, of which we are not yet speaking, but as to the reality
of His existence as man. He was really and truly a human being. But
there were other things connected with the Person of the One who
should be born that are also set before us. His name should be
called Jesus, that is, Jehovah the Saviour. He should be manifested
in this character and with this power. He was so.

The Child born as Man is "the Son of the Highest"

This is not connected here with the fact, "for he shall save his
people from their sins," as in Matthew, where it was the
manifestation to Israel of the power of Jehovah, of their God, in
fulfilment of the promises made to that people. Here we see that He
has a right to this name; but this divine title lies hidden under
the form of a personal name; for it is the Son of man who is
presented in this Gospel, whatever His divine power might be. Here
we are told, "He" -- the One who should be born -- "should be
great," and (born into this world) "should be called the Son of the
Highest." He had been the Son of the Father before the world was;
but this child, born on earth, should be called -- such as He was
down here -- the Son of the Highest: a title to which He would
thoroughly prove His right by His acts, and by all that manifested
what He was. A precious thought to us and full of glory, a child
born of a woman legitimately bears this name, "Son of the Highest"
-- supremely glorious for One who is in the position of a man and
really was such before God.

"The Son of David": His endless kingdom and His glory

But other things still were connected with the One that should
be born. God would give Him the throne of His father David. Here
again we plainly see that He is considered as born, as man, in this
world. The throne of His father David belongs to Him. God will
give it Him. By right of birth He is heir to the promises, to the
earthly promises which, as to the kingdom appertained to the family
of David; but it should be according to the counsels and the power
of God. He should reign over the house of Jacob -- not only over
Judah, and in the weakness of a transitory power and an ephemeral
life, but throughout the ages; and of His kingdom there should be
no end. As indeed Daniel had predicted, it should never be taken by
another. It should never be transferred to another people. It
should be established according to the counsels of God which are
unchangeable, and His power which never fails. Until He delivered
up the kingdom to God the Father, He should exercise a royalty that
nothing could dispute; which He would deliver up (all things being
fulfilled) to God, but the royal glory of which should never be
tarnished in His hands. Such should be the child born -- truly,
though miraculously born as man. To those who could understand His
name it was Jehovah the Saviour. He should be King over the house
of Jacob according to a power that should never decay and never
fail, until blended with the eternal power of God as God. The grand
subject of the revelation is, that the child should be conceived
and born; the remainder is the glory that should belong to Him,
being born.

Mary's question; her faith

But it is the conception that Mary does not understand. God
permits her to ask the angel how this should be. Her question was
according to God. I do not think there was any want of faith
here. Zacharias had constantly asked for a son -- it was only a
question of the goodness and the power of God to perform his
request -- and was brought by the positive declaration of God to a
point at which he had only to trust in it. He did not trust to the
promise of God. It was only the exercise of the extraordinary power
of God in the natural order of things. Mary asks, with holy
confidence, since God thus favoured her, how the thing should be
accomplished, outside the natural order. Of its accomplishment she
has no doubt (see verse 45; "Blessed," said Elizabeth, "is she that
believed.") She inquires how it shall be accomplished, since it
must be done outside the order of nature. The angel proceeds with
his commission, making known to her the answer of God to this
question also. In the purposes of God, this question gave occasion
(by the answer it received) to the revelation of the miraculous
conception.

The Son of God as become Man

The birth of Him who has walked upon this earth was the thing in
question -- His birth of the virgin Mary. He was God, He became
man; but here it is the manner of His conception in becoming a man
upon the earth. It is not what He was that is declared. It is He
who was born, such as He was in the world, of whose miraculous
conception we here read. The Holy Ghost should come upon her --
should act in power upon this earthen vessel, without its own will
or the will of any man. God is the source of the life of the child
promised to Mary, as born in this world and by His power. He is
born of Mary -- of this woman chosen by God. The power of the
Highest should overshadow her, and therefore that which should be
born of her should be called the Son of God. Holy in His birth,
conceived by the intervention of the power of God acting upon Mary
(a power which was the divine source of His existence on the earth,
as man), that which thus received its being from Mary, the fruit of
her womb, should even in this sense have the title of Son of
God. The holy thing which should be born of Mary should be called
the Son of God. It is not here the doctrine of the eternal
relationship of the Son with the Father. The Gospel of John, the
Epistle to the Hebrews, that to the Colossians, establish this
precious truth, and demonstrate its importance; but here it is that
which was born by virtue of the miraculous conception, which on
that ground is called the Son of God.

The angel's announcement to Mary of Elizabeth's blessing

The angel announces to her the blessing bestowed on Elizabeth
through the almighty power of God; and Mary bows to the will of her
God -- the submissive vessel of His purpose, and in her piety
acknowledges a height and greatness in these purposes which only
left to her, their passive instrument, her place of subjection to
the will of God. This was her glory, through the favour of her
God. It was befitting that wonders should accompany, and bear a
just testimony to, this marvellous intervention of God. The
communication of the angel was not without fruit in the heart of
Mary; and by her visit to Elizabeth, she goes to acknowledge the
wonderful dealings of God. The piety of the virgin displays itself
here in a touching manner. The marvellous intervention of God
humbled her, instead of lifting her up. She saw God in that which
had taken place, and not herself; on the contrary the greatness of
these marvels brought God so near her as to hide her from
herself. She yields herself to His holy will: but God has too large
a place in her thoughts in this matter to leave any room for
self-importance.

Mary's visit to Elizabeth; Elizabeth's recognition of God's grace to the mother of her Lord

The visit of the mother of her Lord to Elizabeth was a natural
thing to herself, for the Lord had visited the wife of
Zacharias. The angel has made it known to her. She is concerned in
these things of God, for God was near her heart by the grace that
had visited her. Led by the Holy Ghost in heart and affection, the
glory that belonged to Mary, in virtue of the grace of God who had
elected her to be the mother of her Lord, is recognised by
Elizabeth, speaking by the Holy Ghost. She also acknowledges the
pious faith of Mary, and announces to her the fulfilment of the
promise she had received (all that took place being a signal
testimony given to Him who should be born in Israel and among
men).

Mary's thanksgiving: owning God's grace and her low estate

The heart of Mary is then poured out in thanksgiving. She owns
God her Saviour in the grace that has filled her with joy, and her
own low estate -- a figure of the condition of the remnant of
Israel -- and that gave occasion to the intervention of God's
greatness, with a full testimony that all was of Himself. Whatever
might be the piety suitable to the instrument whom He employed, and
which was found indeed in Mary, it was in proportion as she hid
herself that she was great; for then God was all, and it was
through her that He intervened for the manifestation of His
marvellous ways. She lost her place if she made anything of
herself, but in truth she did not. The grace of God preserved her,
in order that His glory might be fully displayed in this divine
event. She recognises His grace, but she acknowledges that all is
grace towards her. It will be remarked here that, in the character
and the application of the thoughts that fill her heart, all is
Jewish. We may compare the song of Hannah, who prophetically
celebrated this same intervention; and see also verses 54, 55. But,
observe, she goes back to the promises made to the fathers, not to
Moses, and she embraces all Israel. It is the power of God, which
works in the midst of weakness, when there is no resource, and all
is contrary to it. Such is the moment that suits God, and, to the
same end, instruments that are null, that God may be all. It is
remarkable that we are not told that Mary was full of the Holy
Ghost. It appears to me that this is an honourable distinction for
her. The Holy Ghost visited Elizabeth and Zacharias in an
exceptional manner. But, although we cannot doubt that Mary was
under the influence of the Spirit of God, it was a more inward
effect, more connected with her own faith, with her piety, with the
more habitual relations of her heart with God (that were formed by
this faith and by this piety), and which consequently expressed
itself more as her own sentiments. It is thankfulness for the grace
and favour conferred on her the lowly one, and that in connection
with the hopes and blessing of Israel. In all this there appears to
me a very striking harmony in connection with the wondrous favour
bestowed upon her. I repeat it, Mary is great inasmuch as she is
nothing; but she is favoured by God in a way that is unparalleled,
and all generations shall call her blessed. But her piety, and its
expression in this song, being more personal, an answer to God
rather than a revelation on His part, it is clearly limited to that
which was necessarily for her the sphere of this piety -- to
Israel, to the hopes and promises given to Israel. It goes back, as
we have seen, to the farthest point of God's relations with Israel
-- and they were in grace and promise, not law -- but it does not
go outside them.

Piety in secret recognised by God

Mary abides three months with the woman whom God had blessed,
the mother of him who was to be the voice of God in the wilderness;
and she returns to follow humbly her own path, that the purposes of
God may be accomplished. Nothing more beautiful of its kind than
this picture of the intercourse between these pious women, unknown
to the world, but the instruments of God's grace for the
accomplishment of His purpose, glorious and infinite in their
results. They hide themselves, moving in a scene into which nothing
enters but piety and grace; but God is there, as little known to
the world as were these poor women, yet preparing and accomplishing
that which the angels desire to fathom in its depths. This takes
place in the hill country, where these pious relatives dwelt. They
hid themselves; but their hearts, visited by God and touched by His
grace, responded by their mutual piety to these wondrous visits
from above; and the grace of God was truly reflected in the
calmness of a heart that recognised His hand and His greatness,
trusting in His goodness and submitting to His will. We are
favoured in being admitted into a scene, from which the world was
excluded by its unbelief and alienation from God, and in which God
thus acted.

John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth is born

But that which piety recognised in secret, through faith in the
visitations of God, must at length be made public, and be fulfilled
before the eyes of men. The son of Zacharias and Elizabeth is born,
and Zacharias (who, obedient to the word of the angel, ceases to be
dumb) announces the coming of the Branch of David, the horn of
Israel's salvation, in the house of God's elect King, to accomplish
all the promises made to the fathers, and all the prophecies by
which God had proclaimed the future blessing of His people. The
child whom God had given to Zacharias and Elizabeth should go
before the face of Jehovah to prepare His ways; for the Son of
David was Jehovah, who came according to the promises, and
according to the word by which God had proclaimed the manifestation
of His glory.

Israel under present and future blessing from Christ, the Hope of Israel

The visitation of Israel by Jehovah, celebrated by the mouth of
Zacharias, embraces all the blessing of the millennium. This is
connected with the presence of Jesus, who brings in His own Person
all this blessing. All the promises are Yea and Amen in Him. All
the prophecies encircle Him with the glory then to be realised, and
make Him the source from which it springs. Abraham rejoiced to see
the glorious day of Christ. The Holy Ghost always does this, when
His subject is the fulfilment of the promise in power. He goes on
to the full effect which God will accomplish at the end. The
difference here is, that it is no longer the announcement of joys
in a distant future, when a Christ should be born, when a child
should be brought forth, to bring in their joys in days still
obscured by the distance at which they were seen. The Christ is now
at the door, and it is the effect of His presence that is
celebrated. We know that, having been rejected, and being now
absent, the accomplishment of these things is necessarily put off
until He returns; but His presence will bring their fulfilment, and
it is announced as being connected with that presence. We may
remark here, that this chapter confines itself within the strict
limits of the promises made to Israel, that is to say, to the
fathers. We have the priests, the Messiah, His forerunner, the
promises made to Abraham, the covenant of promise, the oath of
God. It is not the law; it is the hope of Israel -- founded on the
promise, the covenant, the oath of God, and confirmed by the
prophets -- which has its realisation in the birth of Jesus, of the
Son of David. It is not, I again say, the law. It is Israel under
blessing, not indeed yet accomplished, but Israel in the
relationship of faith with God who would. accomplish it. It is only
God and Israel who are in question, and that which had taken place
in grace between Him and His people alone.